The Scooter Lady: February 2018

Two years ago, I started a new job which meant a new commute. My previous commute was a 12 minute walk which I enjoyed year-round, in any weather (rain, snow, cold, heat, etc.). I knew my new commute would be quite different but I was determined to find a way to avoid getting in my car and to include some time in nature each day.

Hence, this is where the scooter came into play. So after some research online, I bought a Razor A5 Lux in blue and began playing with it. Fortunately I had a few weeks in between jobs to test it out and pick out my ideal routes.

My commute then included a 1.7 mile scooter ride in the morning through my quiet neighborhood and then down a beautiful bike path full of wild life to where I catch the county bus to work. In the afternoon, I alternated between taking the county bus followed by that same 1.7 scooter ride from the morning or taking the coach bus to the park and ride followed by a 2.5 mile scooter ride on the sidewalk along a busier road. They both had their advantages and I liked the flexibility.

Now you may ask yourself, how much of the year could I really scooter in such a cold weather state? The answer is most of it. The cold didn't stop me. It never has. Snow covered trails would stop me though but fortunately my city plowed the bike paths, so they don't stay snow covered for long. And I don't scooter on wet pavement in the morning as the spray up turns the back of my dress a bit muddy. (In the evenings when I can go home, clean up and change, I don't mind the rain or wet pavement.)

In November of 2018, I moved to a new city, Birmingham, AL in a much warmer climate, where my commute is now 7 blocks. It is amazing to now have a 4 minute commute to work! Such a change from my one-way hour commute in Milwaukee!

Let me tell you how I came up with the name for this blog, "The Scooter Lady". I was downtown Milwaukee afterwork one day riding my scooter. (I don't even remember why I was hanging out downtown that day.) I stopped in the local mall and was carrying my scooter when someone yelled out, "hey there's the scooter lady!" When I told a colleague at work this story, he told me I needed to create a webpage for The Scooter Lady. So without further ado, read on for my experiences commuting by scooter.

Wednesday, February 28, 2018

First Sign of Spring

I took the bike path this morning for the first time in a long while and to my surprise was treated to the songs of the red-winged blackbird! They are always such a welcome sign of spring.

Friday, February 9, 2018

MCTS App

With snow every other day, I haven't been able to scooter every day but I refuse to get in my car and drive to a park and ride, especially on days when the roads are bad. So I have started walking to the closest bus stop (about half a mile) and taking that bus, even though it requires a 15-20 minute wait to transfer to a freeway flyer bus. In doing so, I discovered a way to save money when taking freeway flyers (which are $2.50 a ride).

If you pay using the Ride MCTS app, it costs $2.00 for a 90 minute ticket on any bus(es), including freeway flyers! And the app is so easy to use. You set up a credit or debit card on it. Then click purchase ticket(s). And when your bus approaches the stop, you click activate to start the 90 minute clock. Just show this to the bus driver and you are good to go. Here are some screen shots:

One driver told me that the way they know the ticket is valid is they see the bus moving. (You can see just the tail of the bus on the left side towards the bottom of the screenshot above.) The driver indicated that it can be hard to read the countdown of how much time is left on small phones but the bus is easy to see.

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